Wednesday - Weigh In Day

I am happy to report that I have lost 3 lbs since last friday.  While I was in the hospital  I gained 5 lbs from surgery and by Friday I was back down to my surgery weight.

Start weight:  242
Surgery weight:  221
Current weight: 218

I am really not having a good day today.  I feel really blah and crabby.  I don't know why.  I am going to attend a support group tonight, maybe that will help  cheer me up.

Talk to you all tomorrow

Stephanie

Tuesday

Today was a good day.  I woke up a little earlier than usual, got Nicholas out of bed and made him breakfast.  I should say I microwaved his breakfast for him.  He is a last minute Charlie when it comes to getting up for school.  His bus comes at 6:47 am and he usually gets to the kitchen around 6:40.  But I do have to say he has only missed the bus 2 times this year.  Ahhh! to be a teenager again!  As soon as Nicholas left, I followed him out the door for my walk.  I took a 40 minute invigorating walk.  My sister in law has a blog Creatively Fit (see blogs to the right) I will be posting some photos from my walks on that blog as well. 

 Today I started my day off with water, and didn't feel nauseous at all.  2 of my friends have suggested that I try Wylers Light Lemonade and Arizona Brands drink mix, they have found them to be tasty and don't bother their stomach.  So I will be hitting Publix tomorrow to buy these.  I am slowly growing an addiction to these sugar free ice pops.  They are so refreshing.    

I spent the day with my good friend Barbara.  Barbara and I were neighbors growing up, we are the same age and have so many good memories from our childhood.  As a matter of fact, Barbara's sister Cindy married my Brother Chris and we all live here in Central Florida.  Barbara and I went shopping, we leisurely walked around Walgreen's and Walmart, without children to aggravate us.  Barbara and I have battled with our weight all our lives.  So we are a Get Healthy and Lose Weight team.  We are both working real hard to change our eating habits.  I have the "tool" of the Gastric Bypass, and Barbara has the tool of Willpower and Determination.   As soon as we get to goal, we are planning to do a Glamour Photo Shoot for our husbands, who bear the brunt of our attitudes!  And of course Clothes shopping!  To enjoy buying clothes again, can't wait!

Tomorrow is my weigh in day.  I will let you all know how I am doing.  Thanks for following!

Monday - 1 week Post Op

The photo's above are of the Handbook I received at my Pre-op appointment.  I can't even begin to tell you how precise and step by step this handbook is.  It explains how and when to do everything you need to succeed in your Weight Loss Journey.

For those of you who know me well, I love to take lots of pictures.  So I will be posting photos frequently on my blog.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy taking them.  I will try to keep them relevant to my blog, but I may sneak in a few that aren't here and there.

Flowers and Bamboo Panda wishing me well

When I got home from the hospital last week my neighbor, Gladys, brought over a bouquet of flowers and Pam brought me the Bamboo Panda and the card.  It was so thoughtful of them.  I have a great support group, which is very important during this time in my life.  My family and friends have been wonderful.  Calling, sending me texts and messages just to check on me or see if I need anything.  My mother in law has been a huge help with shopping, in the kitchen and just moral support.    Thank you everyone!  I love each and every one of you.  

Today I woke up with a new attitude!  I am not going to wallow in self pity just because of a little nausea.  I am going to just work through it and make the most of every day!  I made the decision to have this surgery, it is up to me to make it work.   So while making breakfast for Douglas this morning, I mixed a container of Crystal Lite, took a sip and just like that the nausea started.  UGH!  But I needed to get Douglas ready for school, so I tried to ignore it.  After I got Douglas on the bus, I grabbed my Ipod and the container of Crystal Lite and went for a walk.  I walked for about 30 minutes around the neighborhood, not even realizing that my nausea had gone away.  Today was a real good day for me.  I kept busy with catching up on paperwork, dusting and chatting with my sister-in-law Nicole from NY.  

I actually have to remind myself to eat.  I am not hungry at all.  I am still having trouble with the liquid vitamins.  They make me gag.  Douglas was so cute this evening while I was trying to swallow them.  I have to take an ounce, so I sip half and try to swallow it.  Douglas looks in the cup and sees that I still had more to take.  So he handed me a cup of water and told me "just drink it Mom and then drink the water fast".  He doesn't realize that I can't drink anything "fast" anymore.  I have to sip sip sip everything.  The look on his face while I am gagging and quivering trying to get these vitamins down is priceless!  I just ordered new vitamins from the Celebrate Vitamins web site.  It is a powder that you mix with water and I hear it is very good.  I got cherry flavor.   Has to be better than what I am taking now.  And by the way, if you go to the Celebrate Vitamins web site, you can request free samples to try before you buy.  I also ordered chewable vitamins for weeks 2-4 post op.  Celebrate Vitamins Here is their link, check them out.  

Tomorrow I may start off with a warm drink.  I MISS MY COFFEE!!!!! Have to drink decaf tea for now.  

Thanks for reading, register to follow me, and post a comment....Would love to hear what you think!

Stephanie

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday was an all around great day for me.  I woke up feeling great and went for a 30 minute walk.  I came home, showered and got ready to take Douglas to baseball.  Douglas has a caregiver, Pam, who comes every other weekend to help out.  Pam is a wonderful person and has become such a great friend to me.  I feel so comfortable with her, the whole family does.  This was one of Pam's weekends so she was a great help with Douglas.  After baseball we came home and had dinner (God Bless my wonderful husband) he has been a huge help to me with everything around the house.  He was in the process of making hamburgers on the grill.  We discovered a yummy way to make burgers.  We cook bacon until crisp, crumble it up and mix it in with the chop meat.  We also add some shredded cheese in the mix too.  Comes out so delicious on the grill.  I measured out my 1 1/2 oz and threw it in the food processor, and VOILA burger puree!  It was a little dry, so I dipped small amounts in some Chipotle Mayo and dinner was served.  It was very good and I was full after my 1 1/2 oz.  I was able to get in all my liquids and (oops!) went over a little on my protein.

Sunday is another story.  I woke up feeling real good then I took a sip of Crystal Lite Raspberry Ice Tea.  Well, that sent my belly into a tizzy!  I was nauseous the entire day.  Nothing seemed to calm it.  I was also very gassy.  I wasn't able to eat much at all during the day.  I had a scrambled egg for lunch and Tommy made these delicious Turkey enchiladas for dinner.  I measured out 1 1/2 oz of the meat and gave it a whiz in the food processor.  I still wasn't feeling so hot, but I knew I had to eat.  It was so good (even though my taste isn't 100% yet).  I was full after only eating half.  I knew at this point that I was not going to get in all my protein, so I needed to add a supplement.  After I put Douglas to bed I made a protein shake with skim milk, plain Greek yogurt and added chocolate protein powder.  The protein shake equaled 39 grams of protein.  I sipped it slowly and soon my stomach started to settle down.  What a relief.  I am thinking the Greek yogurt had something to do with it.  Shortly after I went to bed :0) 

It's FRIDAY

I woke up today almost pain free.  I feel real good with the exception of a sore throat. I am hoping it is from the breathing tube and I am not getting sick.   This morning I decided to have a protein shake for breakfast and try to get in a lot of liquids.  Which I was able to do.  Tommy and I went shopping to Home Depot, Pet Smart and Walmart.  I started to get tired in Walmart, but I was trying to find some foods I can eat on this pureed food diet.  I found a few things, and I will post them if they are any good.  Reading labels can be exhausting.  When I got home my dad was here for a visit.  He was worried about me.  He said I looked good.  The rest of the afternoon was pretty routine, laundry, vacuuming, and sipping my liquids.  Nicholas, my 16 year old, came home with a sore throat, so now I wonder if I am getting sick.  I haven't had a sore throat in 6+ years and I thought hospitals were supposed to make you better.  Guess not!

I am finding sugar free ice pops are an important food to keep in the house.  No only do they feel real good on my sore throat, but they are a help to your liquid intake and you feel like you are having a treat.  I buy 2 boxes at a time.  The rest of the family likes them too.  Well, except for Douglas, he says they are too cold!

I have decided not to weigh myself everyday.  I am going to try a weekly weigh in.  My 2 week Dr. visit is on May 12 (my brother Chris' birthday).  So I think I will do a Wednesday weekly weight.  I will see if that works for me.  Well that is all for today.  Gonna hit the hay, Douglas has baseball tomorrow and Nicholas and Tommy will be putting down sod a good part of the day.  Yes we are sodding our lawn again this year.  It seems like we do it every year.  Gotta love the Florida heat and bugs, they do a number on the lawn!

Thursday 4/29/2010

Well today I can start pureed foods.  So not looking forward to it.  Tried to make an egg for breakfast but couldn't get it the right consistency so had a shake instead.  For those of you who know me well, I have Type II diabetes.  In the hospital it was a little high so I was given a shot of insciline every day.  Dr. Kim told me to monitor my diabetes and if my sugar went over 150 to talk a pill.  Today I took my blood sugar and it was 90.  I haven't seen that number in years.  What a great feeling.  I also got on the scale and weighed 5 lbs more than I did before having the surgery.  UGH!  Was not a happy camper.  But I am still puffy from the surgery.  Tommy and I went for a walk around the block.  I took a walk to the mail box and watered all my flowers.  So I was on my feet for a little while.  I am doing ok with the liquid intake, 80+ oz daily, the protein is going to be a challenge.  I had 2 shakes and an egg today which ='s to about 50 grams of protein.  My goal is 63-77 grams.  Gonna try some pureed chicken for dinner, I will see how that goes, and will have another shake and maybe some yogurt. That should bring my totals up for today.  It is 5:30 pm now and I am extremely tired and sore.  The incision in my belly button is oozzing quite a bit, so I have to keep that on covered.  But all in all I am doing ok.  NO Regrets whatsoever!  When I am feeling better I will try to make this blog a little more exciting.  I know it's boring right now.  Take care every!  Stephanie
OH almost forgot Here are my before pictures.  We took them today!
Start Weight  =  242
Surgery Weight = 221

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

Florida Hospital Celebration Health

Monday April 26 was my RNY Bypass Surgery.  The day is a complete blurrrr to me.  My husband tells me that the Surgery took about 2 hrs and Dr. Kim said I did very well.  I remember being in my hospital room asking for Tommy and my dad.  Shortly after asking they arrived with my friend Barbara, who I was very pleasantly surprised to see.  They stayed for a while, but I was so groggy I don't remember what was said.  Monday night I had a terrible night sleeping.  At 4 am Tuesday the nurse helped me move to the recliner and I was so much more comfortable there. I was experiencing so much left shoulder pain.  It was at time totally unbearable. Sandra, Dr. Kims nurse, warned us about this during our pre-op visit.  The pain was caused by the drain in my stomach.  The drain was pushing up against a nerve that radiate up to my left shoulder.  The drainage looked good so they decided to remove the drain.   All I have to say is OH MY GOD!  but the pain in my shoulder disappeared immediately. Tuesday morning they took me for an upper GI to make sure there were no leaks.  I had no leaks so it was time for me to start my clear liquid diet.  I was able to drink Crystal lite drinks, water, chicken broth, and sugarfree popcicles, plus I was still getting IV fluids.  And the Dr. wanted me to walk walk walk as much as I could.  So I did.  

I was going to get discharged on Tuesday cause I was doing so well, but then I started to get a little nauseous, which may have been from the pain, so they gave me some pain and nausea meds and decided the keep me till Wednesday.  I am so glad they did.  I felt so much better when I got up Wednesday.  

Sandra gathered all the bariatric patients and took us all to an exercise class.  It was a class to teach us how to prevent blood clots.  And again it was stressed to us walk, walk, walk, it helps relieve a multitude of problems, gas, bloating, blood clots, nausea, and help with the lungs.  Then shortly after I was released to go home.